Class of September 2017

Andy Staines

Having spent the last 20 years in financial services Andy was on the look out for a change. He wanted to do something that would give him enjoyment on a daily basis and enabled him to express a creative side that was ‘longing to come out’. He had always been interested in working with wood and had over the years built sheds, decking and restored the odd item of garden furniture.

Andy made multiple items on the course as his projects, but his main personal project was his Steamer trunk bar.

Laure Mora

Laure Mora was born and raised in France, Laure went to the US (Kansas) in 2000 to study. She graduated with a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering. Laure then joined an oil service company to work as an oilfield engineer on rigs and platforms, after which she worked and lived in Colorado, Egypt, Oman, Yemen, France and Scotland, working her way up to field manager. In 2013, after a stint travelling all over the world (Australia, Indonesia, Congo, Angola…) as global marketing manager for a big oil company, Laure joined Shell to work as a drilling supervisor on the rigs in the North Sea. It was a great experience, but in 2015 she felt it was time to leave the oilfields and look for new ideas and challenges in her professional life. Her partner, Simon Hawksley, had joined the Academy’s 40 week boat building course and so the couple moved to Lyme Regis while Simon attended the course. Their first baby was born a week before the course started.

Laure speaks 4 languages, German and English learned at school and Spanish ‘on the go’ while living in Barcelona. She also worked as a professional pianist when young; she still loves playing but says she is not as good as she was. Laure practices yoga, plays golf (or used to, in Scotland) and scuba dives, which is how she met Simon, at the same scuba diving club in Aberdeen.

Laure says ‘I like to be as much as I can out of my comfort zone, meaning new challenges, foreign countries, new people, etc… Therefore I find starting our new company so exciting, so much to learn and to look forward to! Traveling and living abroad has taught me two important things: prejudices cripple your mind and always remember that the people you’re looking at have a different story than yours, so be ready to be surprised!’